Over The Edge
by Fenghuang0296
Summary: Set in Dragons: Race To The Edge. Is there really so much difference between a Viking and a pirate? If you think yes, you haven't met enough pirates yet. Or Vikings, for that matter. Rated T for incessant swearing, mostly on the part of one foul-mouthed pirate.
1. Set Sail For, Uh, Thataway!

Prologue: Set Sail For, Uh, Thataway!

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me," An off-pitch song warbled through the ocean breezes. "Yo ho, yo ho, I want something to see! Seriously! I'm sick of all this water!"

A girl flopped back onto the rowing bench of her small boat. "I want land. Dirt, soil, trees, sand. Is that too much to ask for?"

The boat wasn't large. It was, in essence, an oversized rowboat with a fore mast shoddily rigged to the front by a variety of knots and some nails. It had been done poorly, too. The sail was made out of pine leaves stitched together with thread and cut into a mostly triangular shape.

The girl herself, was lanky and thin, dressed in a wooden jerkin with a leather overcoat over it, leather pants and sandals, and a three-brimmed dark brown hat mounted atop her long orange hair, which went down to her shoulder blades in all sides. A cutlass hung from her belt. She took a swig from her water bladder, and once again fruitlessly searched the horizon for signs of land. When there was none to be found, she cursed. "I am so sick of all this goddamn water!"

A shrill, screeching roar answered her. Her face went pale in fear. "Nevermind, water's good, water's great! I love water!" The pirate fumed to herself. "Goddamn sea gods,"

But her expression changed again as she saw a distant shadow in the fog. "Please tell me that's land," she begged, turning the boat towards the shadow and squinting through the most surrounding her.

The girl was rewarded by a jagged, rocky outcropping. "Land! Hip-hip-hoo-rah!" She jumped for joy, before reaching for her makeshift sail rig and guiding the boat around the outcropping, searching for a beach that she could land the boat on as the outcropping extended into a full island.

Her efforts bore no fruit as she continued to circle around the island, until she happened upon a rocky rise jutting out of the ocean. It was hardly the beach she'd been hoping for, but it looked solid enough that she could land the boat without wrecking it. The girl hauled on the ropes, bringing the ship around, and letting the wind gently push it onto the slope.

As soon as the bottom of the hull grated against rock, she leapt onto dry land with a rope made from a vine, quickly tying the boat down and securing it's position, half in the water and half on the rock. Having done that, she rapidly inspected the bottom of the hull for damage. Satisfied that there was none to be had, the pirate lay back, enjoying the rock on her back. "I missed land,"

A circle of jade inscribed with several odd-looking etches, rimmed in carefully cut oak and attached to a string around her neck, slipped out of her shirt and hit the rocky floor.


	2. Pirate's Landing

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings featured in this fiction with the exception of Amelia, the dragon she will eventually become partnered with (don't look at me like that, it's obvious she'll eventually get a dragon) and a few other characters who will eventually appear. This will not be repeated, so, yeah. That's out of the way,**

Chapter 1: Pirate's Landing

Hiccup moaned, picking himself up and climbing out of his bed in Dragon's Edge. Toothless, his Night Fury dragon partner and best friend, eagerly sniffed at him. "I'm not a morning person, bud. You know that," he protested, staggering over to the oil stove and setting a pot of coffee to boil. Toothless snorted in derision. The black dragon didn't like coffee.

Hiccup redressed himself as he waited for the coffee to boil, before staggering over and opening the curtains that served as a door to his hut. He looked down as Dragon's Edge was bathed in sunlight, and spotted the members of his team getting ready for the day in their own homes. "Aaaah! Hookfang! No fire in the house!" Snotlout's voice echoed through the airspace, accompanied by plumes of smoke from his hut. Hiccup smothered a guffaw, before turning back and picking up his mug of coffee.

Toothless nudged him as he drained the mug, and Hiccup looked down to see his dragon offering him his saddled back. He shrugged. "Alright, bud, one quick flight around the island, just to wake up. We should probably check the watchtowers anyway," he decided, and Toothless eagerly twisted around and got to the landing platform just outside Hiccup's elevated hut. The Viking followed, feeling the coffee work it's magic, as he settled into the dragon's saddle. Without waiting, Toothless leapt into the air, soaring out to the ocean. "Whoa, bud, where ya going? We're checking the perimeter, remember?" Hiccup protested, but Toothless turned his head to look at him and snorted.

The boy didn't understand dragons as a whole, but had become adept at determining his own's various attempts at communication and he was pretty sure that this one translated to "I've got something to show you," Hiccup shrugged. "Alright bud, lead the way,"

His dragon twisted and swerved, before correcting his course as Hiccup tried to figure out where they were going.

X

The pirate wandered up the island, headed towards a forest in hopes of finding a river where she could refill her bladders. "It would help if I knew where I was," she muttered to herself, but shrugged it off as wishful thinking and doggedly continued, occasionally looking back to check that her boat was still in sight. "Gotta love survivalism,"

The island she was on was by no means small, but mostly consisted of a solitary, rearing mountain surrounded by some foliage, all mounted atop a set of rocks rearing out of the ocean. "Nice place," the girl commented, looking around, before tensing as something whipped past her shoulders. In half a second, she had drawn her cutlass and reared to face her assailant - but stumbled back in shock at the sight of a pale green Deadly Nadder brandishing it's spiny tail at her and menacingly spreading it's wings. "A dragon?" The pirate blinked, uncomprehending, before launching into a string of curses, each more vulgar and upsetting than the last. "Please tell me I'm not in that Archipelago," she finally concluded, wielding her cutlass in a ready stance. The Nadder roared, launching more of it's spines. She ducked, deflected one with the flat of her sword, before bringing it down in a sweeping arc.

Two halves of a spine hit the ground to either side of her, perfectly bisected by her blade. The dragon screeched, before spreading it's wings and flapping away. The girl watched it go, before groaning to herself and turning away. "Well, at least I know where I am now. Only one place in the world has beasts like that,"

Sighing to herself, she quickly found a suitable river and filled her bladder, before dashing back to her boat as rapidly as possible.

The girl was stunned at the sight that awaited her. Her boat had been destroyed, smashed into charred driftwood. Another dragon, a Typhoomerang, was flying away into the sky. She screamed obscenities at the top of her lungs after the dragon.

X

In all his years, Hiccup had never heard, or expected to hear, anything quite like the stream of foul language piercing the sky from a nearby island. Toothless was disturbed by it too,mans looked back at his rider. "What was that?" he questioned incredulously, before realising Toothless had turned to angle towards the source. "Good idea, bud. Better go check that out,"

It was coming from a nearby island, that was elevated atop a high rocky cliff with a mountain reaching into the sky. A rocky plinth extended downwards into a small plateau. As Hiccup drew closer, he spotted a tiny human figure on the plateau, swearing at the sky. Nearby, several charred planks were lying on the rock.

"Let's go find out what this is all about, eh bud?" Hiccup gently guided Toothless downwards, and the dragon complied, dipping towards the rocky plinth and coming in to land.

Seconds before landing, he suddenly noticed the wicked-looking sword in the person's hand, and the way they were dressed. "A pirate," he breathed, before shaking his head. "Regardless, he still needs help,"

Toothless landed with ease, and the pirate immediately wheeled towards them, brandishing her sword. She paused in surprise at the sight of Hiccup climbing off Toothless and picking up his polished Gronckle-Iron shield, expertly slinging it onto his right arm. "How can you stand to ride one of those beasts?" she demanded.

Hiccup, for his part, was shocked too. "You're a girl?" he demanded. The pirate's shock rapidly turned to anger. "Whaddya mean, I'm a girl? What, can't girls carry swords in this barbaric place?" In an instant, the point of the sword was levelled at Hiccup's throat, and he hastily brought his shield up to defend himself -

But Toothless got there first, leaping in front of his friend, knocking the sword from the girl's hand, before jumping on her and forcing her onto her back. His jaws opened and purple light shone down his throat as he prepared a fireball. "Whoa, Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup commanded. Toothless narrowed his eyes, but swallowed his fire and got off. The pirate glared at the dragon, keeping her eyes on him as she reclaimed her sword. Hiccup cautiously approached her. "Okay. Let's not do that again. I'm Hiccup. You are?" he introduced himself. "Amelia," the pirate snorted.

Hiccup looked around. "That was your boat, wasn't it?" he asked, gesturing at the charred and broken driftwood. Amelia snorted. "One of your dirty great beasts destroyed it,"

"Whoa. Okay. Firstly, they aren't all my beasts, just this one," Hiccup gestured at Toothless. "Secondly, he was probably provoked. Did you do anything to upset him?"

"No! All I saw of it was it flying away after wasting my boat!" she fumed. Hiccup blinked. "That doesn't sound right. What kind of dragon is it?"

"A big one!" Amelia burst out, incredulous. "That's, not very helpful. What did it look like? How big were it's wings?"

"It was spinning around like a giant boomerang. I barely saw anything," she told him. "Spinning around? Only one kind of dragon flies like that. A Typhoomerang," Hiccup surmised, and the pirate hissed vehemently. "It'll be dead meat if I ever see it again,"

The Viking gulped, but shrugged it off. He had heard worse threats from Astrid. "So, uh, given that you're stranded, do you want to come back to Dragon's Edge with me?"

Amelia paused. "Dragon's Edge is your town?"

"It's, ah, more of an outpost really, only six of us live there full-time," Hiccup awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. But Amelia seemed enthusiastic. "Sure. Where's your ship?"

The boy blinked. "Aaahhh,"

She looked at Toothless. "You're kidding,"

"Aaaaaaaahhhh,"

"You're not kidding," Amelia groaned, before rolling her eyes. "Where do I sit?"

X

"So, you aren't from around here, are you?" Hiccup tried to start conversation. "No. I'm from England,"

"Is that far away?" He had never heard of England. Maybe it was in the southern parts of the Archipelago?

"Very far away. Well outside your cluster of islands far away," Amelia snorted. "Oh," Hiccup blinked. It had never occurred to him that there could _be_ a place that far away. "And there are lots of pirates there?"

"Nope. England as a country hates pirates like me. They hate us so much that they send special ships called the navy to hunt us down and kill us. Which is what happened to my ship," Amelia looked almost sad at this. Hiccup was about to say something, but she continued. "They were blasting the old girl to pieces with their cannons. I managed to get to one of the lifeboats and used the wreckage of the ship to hide until they left, then salvaged as many supplies as I could, rigged a makeshift sail and got as far away from England as I could. Given I somehow ended up in this place, I think it worked,"

"Oh, I, uh-" Hiccup started, but Amelia interrupted him again. "Don't get all pirate-hatey on me, okay? In a place like England, if you're born with nothing, you'll never have anything. Turning to piracy was the only way I could make something of myself," she explained. Toothless sympathetically rumbled, and the pirate glared at him. "Oh, shut up, lizard,"

"How long were you adrift for?" Hiccup asked. "Two months, give or take. But I wasn't adrift, I just didn't know where I was going," Amelia hotly defended herself. Toothless snorted in derision.

"Sounds tough," the Viking surmised. "It was more boring than anything," Amelia shrugged. "How long until we reach this Dragon's Edge place?"

"Not long. Ten minutes max,"

A/N

A/N

 **Hey, new fic. Woot!**

 **Don't start talking about historical accuracy, and that there weren't Vikings and British navies and pirates at the same times. I'm mostly going off stuff I saw in the Pirates of the Carribean movie series in relation to that, and this is a world where Vikings have horns on their helmets, plus the whole dragons thing. Historical accuracy is M.I.A.**

 **So, yeah. Peace!**


	3. Cutlass' Edge

Chapter 2: Cutlass' Edge

Toothless landed on the platform near Hiccup's house, where his five friends were gathered.

"Who's she?" Astrid immediately demanded as soon as she saw Amelia.

"Who's she?" Amelia instantly retorted. Both of them glared at Hiccup for answers.

"Ooh, is this a thing we're doing? Who's he?" Tuffnut asked, gesturing at Hiccup, who groaned, facepalming. "Astrid, Amelia. Amelia, Astrid. Tuffnut, shut up,"

"I thought your name was Hicc-up," Tuffnut frowned. Astrid pulled out her axe. "Shut up, Tuffnut,"

"Oh, that shut up. Okay," the twin nodded.

The two girls squared each other up. Amelia noticed that Astrid still had her axe at the ready and drew her cutlass in response, tilting it so that the sun glinted off the edge of the blade. "Nice sword," Astrid nodded. "Nice stick," Amelia cocked her head. "You did not just call my axe a stick!" the blonde girl growled, rushing forwards and bringing her axe down in an arcing sweep. In a flash, Amelia parried, using the flat of her blade to deflect the axe, before twisting it in her hands and cutting straight through the handle of the axe. The head clattered to the ground, leaving Astrid staring at the piece of wood left in her hand. "Looks like a stick to me," the pirate smirked.

She looked up and glared, before breaking into a smile and offering a handshake. "Impressive. Nice to meet you," Amelia accepted the handshake, and Astrid immediately tightened her grip. "You owe me an axe,"

The pirate winced, pulling her hand free and casting an intrigued glance at her. "Don't expect payment any time soon. Everything I had went down with the ship,"

"What ship?" Ruffnut asked. "Forget the ship! What brought it down?" Tuffnut eagerly asked. "Yeah, yeah, what brought it down?" his twin sister agreed. "Was it a Scauldron?"

"Two Scauldrons?"

"An entire herd of Scauldrons?"

"The navy," Amelia growled in anger. "I've never heard of that dragon before," Tuffnut frowned. "Fishlegs! What kind of dragon is a navy!" Ruffnut barked at Fishlegs, turning around. "I've never heard of a dragon called that," the plump boy frowned. "It's not a dragon. It's an army of ships that hate pirates," Amwlia summarised. "Were you part of the navy?" Tuffnut asked.

A vein tightened in Amelia's neck. Dashing forwards, she bodily picked the boy up, held him over his head and threw him off the platform. Tuffnut screamed as he fell, before a loud thunk was heard. "Is that a no?" his voice echoed back up. "Oh yeah, now that's the kind of action I like!" Snotlout grinned, stepping forwards, placing his hands on his hips. "The name's Snotlout, fair madam. You may gush in awe," he paused for effect, "now,"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" the muscular Viking screamed as he fell towards the ground underneath the platform, before landing with another thunk. "I'm okay! Tuffnut broke my fall!"

"You like throwing people off things, huh?" Fishlegs gulped. "Could you not do that to me?" he asked politely. The pirate looked him up and down. "No, you're too heavy,"

The fatter Viking breathed a sigh of relief as Ruffnut echoed. "She's so awesome,"

"Okay, so, uh, we should get you settled in," Hiccup suggested. "I'll take you to the guest house,"

X

Amelia had taken one look at the guest house and said, "It won't do," Therefore, she was chopping trees from the forest with an axe borrowed from Astrid to accrue the supplies to build her own shelter. She had started by building a raised framework that had been sunk into the ground to provide stability, and was now lashing logs and branches together to create the floor.

"Hey! Need a hand getting that up there?" she heard a voice call, and looked up. Astrid was hovering above her, riding Stormfly, her Deadly Nadder. The dragon dropped down and snatched up the floor, lifting it into the air. "Hey! What are you doing with my floor?" Amelia shouted, but paused as Stormfly deposited it perfectly atop the thirty-metre scaffolding she had already erected. "Nevermind, that's good!" she hollered, cupping her hands to make sure she heard her.

Astrid flew down as Amelia began selecting branches from the pile she had trimmed from the trees she had already logged. "Building walls now?" she asked. "Nope. Now, I'm building a ladder," the pirate corrected her. "Smart," Astrid nodded, watching Amelia lash vines together, creating a rope ladder. "You're good at that," she nodded.

"On the ship, I was small and light. I got good at climbing rigging," Rather than a conventional ladder, the pirate girl was creating a structure that seemed somewhat reminiscent of a net to Astrid. "That doesn't look like a ladder," she pointed out. "This is a ship's rigging. It used to be my job to climb this up to the crow's nest and keep lookout for other ships,"

"What's a crow's nest?" the Viking asked. Amelia paused, before remembering something. "That's right, you Vikings have those weird longboats. No, the sort of ship I'm used to is way bigger than the boats you use," she explained. "We have a sort of basket at the top of the central mast that I sat in and looked around. You could see for miles,"

"How much bigger?" Astrid continued to question. "An English galleon? Probably the size of this entire outpost. Your boats are rowboats compared to my ships," the orange-haired girl smirked as she finished lashing the triangular rigging together. "Want me to get that up there?" Astrid offered, but Amelia shook her head, putting the corner of the net around her neck and began to climb up one of the poles making up the framework. The rigging billowed behind her like a giant cape.

Hiccup approached, having come to check on Amelia. "What's she doing?" he frowned, watching the net billow out behind her. "Best I can figure, she's homesick. So she's building that to be like one of her massive galleon ships," Astrid gestured. "I get that. But why is she wearing a giant net?" he questioned.

"Apparently it's part of a boat," Astrid shrugged. Hiccup looked up and shook his head. "I don't see it,"

Amelia reached the top and tied the corner of the rigging to the top post, letting it billow down to the ground in a huge triangle. She rapidly climbed down it and started tying branches to the bottom, weighing it down. "Oh, uh, hey. Interesting design you've got there," Hiccup greeted her. "It's called a rigging. We have them on our English frigates,"

"I thought you said they were galleons," Astrid frowned. Amelia shrugged. "Galleons, frigates, they're basically the same thing if you don't want to get technical,"

"Which one were you on?" Astrid questioned, narrowing her eyes. "A galleon. She was beautiful, too, before she got destroyed," The Viking nodded, her momentary suspicions assuaged, and Hiccup stepped forwards. "I've never seen anything like that on a ship," he pointed out. "Riggings are attached to the masts of our ships, they let us climb up them," The pirate frowned at having to explain it again. "Your ships must have really big masts," Hiccup commented. "Naah. We just have really big ships," Amelia shrugged, snatching up the axe. "I'm gonna get more wood,"

X

"What is this?" she asked, picking at the food Fishlegs had served for everyone. "Yak stew. Go on, try it. You'll love it," the fat boy enthusiastically encouraged her. Shrugging, she put her spoon to the stew and sipped at it, before nodding in approval. "It beats two-month-old dried beef, I'll give you that,"

"Yes!" Fishlegs grinned. "That's really not saying much," Snotlout pointed out. Fishlegs just rolled his eyes at him and walked away. Amelia observed with interest. "Ignore them, you get used to it," Astrid recommended, and the pirate nodded.

"So, Amelia," Snotlout turned to her with a somewhat perverted grin. "Unless you want me to throw you off the roof again, stop talking now," Amelia glared at him, and he backed off in fear. "Shutting up, shutting up,"

Amelia looked over at Hiccup, and noticed Toothless sitting like a cat next to him. The two were looking at what almost looked like a telescope of some sort. As she watched, Toothless opened his mouth and purple light flared in his throat. Amelia watched, amazed, as the telescope reflected the light and produced an image of some sort. "It's called the Dragon Eye," Astrid commented. "It uses the light from a dragon's fire to produce some kind of image. I'm not sure how," Astrid shrugged. "Cool," she breathed.

"Well, I'm headed to bed. See you tomorrow," Astrid smiled, standing up, grasping her axe (which she evidently had spares of) and walking out of the hall.

As Amelia wandered closer, Hiccup pressed a button and something was ejected from the Dragon Eye. "What's that?" Amelia frowned. "It's called the Dragon Eye -" Hiccup started, but Amelia shook her head. "Astrid filled me in. I mean, that," She gestured at the oak-and-crystal lens that Hiccup had just ejected from the Eye. "It's a lens. There's a bunch of them hidden all over the place," Hiccup explained. The pirate picked it up, examining it closer. "It looks just like my necklace," she frowned, reaching into her shirt and pulling out the oaken disc strung around her neck.

The Viking froze at the sight of it. "That's a Dragon Eye lens. Where did you find it?" he asked, stunned. "What, this old thing? My mum gave it to me. Some kind of family heirloom. It's pretty useless," the pirate shrugged. "Can I see it?" Hiccup requested, and she shrugged again and pulled it over her neck. "Sure," Amelia nodded, handing the necklace to him. Immediately, Hiccup slotted the lens into the Dragon Eye. "Toothless?" he asked, holding it to his dragon, who illuminated it with his purple fire.

A variety of drawings, sketches and letters written in Norse appeared on the table. Hiccup squinted at them for a few moments, then stood up in shock. "Whoa, bud, check this out," he breathed. Fishlegs immediately rushed over. "What? What is it?"

"You're gotta see this," Hiccup breathed, as the two scholarly Vikings inspected it. "This is incredible," Fishlegs breathed. "What? What is it?"

"It's a map to an island where an extremely rare species of dragon lives, the species that the Dragon Eye's creator," Fishlegs paused in shock. "Used to ride?" he demanded. "And-and it's also," Hiccup paused, pressing a button, and the projection changed, now showing nothing but Norse letters. "His memoirs and will," he breathed. "Well, what does it say?" Amelia demanded. "While the rest of my lenses and projection devices I have hidden in the Archipelago, I have saved this one for myself and my family, in the hope that someday a descendant of mine will return to my beloved home. It pains me to leave, but it has become too dangerous to stay. Descendant of mine, if and when you ever read this, follow the map inscribed on this lens. It will lead you to your destiny," Hiccup read, before looking at Amelia. "You said this was a family heirloom?" he asked, shock evident on his face. "Yeah. What's the big deal?" she asked. "The big deal, is that you are descended from the guy who made the Dragon Eye!" Fishlegs screamed in excitement.

Amelia blinked. "Is that good?"

A/N

A/N

And there we have it. I'm not in the mood to beat around the bush in these events, plus I am trying to match the show's fast-paced plot method.

Even so, normally I would wait a little longer before dropping a bomb like this, but I wanted Amelia to get her dragon ASAP. Call me selfish. XD

Peace!


	4. Destiny or Disaster

Chapter 4: Destiny or Disaster

"I take it this is a big deal?" Amelia asked from her position on Toothless behind Hiccup.

"This is a massive deal," Hiccup nodded. "According to that map, there's an island outside the limits of our maps that's home to the remnants of an incredibly rare and powerful species of dragon your ancestor called Quaking Goliaths,"

"And that is important why?" the pirate asked. "Because if Quaking Goliaths are as powerful as the lens says, we have to make sure that the Dragon Hunters can't get at them. Plus, if they're endangered, they should be protected," Hiccup explained. "And they can't protect themselves?" Amelia skeptically snorted. "Well, we don't know. The lens was damaged, a lot of the information's missing," her friend shrugged.

"Yes, sorry about that," Amelia shrugged. She still didn't really see how it concerned her. "Oi! How long's the trip?" Snotlout demanded from the neck of his own massive Monstrous Nightmare dragon, Hookfang. "Might be another few hours. It's a long way north," Hiccup called back, before crouching in his seat and patting Toothless. "Think you're up for it, bud?" The sleek black dragon nodded in the affirmative and tried to pull ahead of the others to prove it.

"Well, I'll a nap. Wake me when we get there," Amelia casually leant back and closed her eyes, unbuttoning her jumper and letting the sun warm her.

Hiccup groaned. He had another reason for taking Amelia to the island. He was hoping that she could bond with a member of this rare species like he had with Toothless, but felt it would be unwise to tell her that. But if this was her attitude towards things in general, that might prove difficult.

X

"Okay, sleepyhead, we're almost there," Hiccup shook Amelia awake, and she groaned. "Five more minutes,"

"Not on this ship," Hiccup snorted, and at that her eyes flew open and she looked around, seeming disappointed about the fact that they were still on Toothless. "In five minutes, we'll be there," he told her, gesturing at a landmass in the distance. Conspired to all the other islands Hiccup had been to, it was absolutely huge, at least ten times the size of Berk, and three times the size of the island Dragon's Edge was situated upon. Parts of it were covered in foliage, and several mountains were situated on it.

"Whoa," Amelia breathed as Astrid flew closer. "Are you seeing this?" she grinned. "I wonder what kinds of dragons live there?" Fishlegs called over.

Suddenly, Ruffnut and Tuffnut got closer on their two-headed Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch. "Guys, you should check this out. It's totally awesome," Ruffnut called over, banking to the left. With a moment's hesitation, Hiccup followed her, and the others followed him.

Everyone's jaws went slack at the sight of a large hole that had been smashed into one of the mountains, creating a massive cave. The entrance was easily twice Toothess' wingspan, which in itself was almost twenty feet. "What do you think did that?" Fishlegs gulped. "Whatever it is, I want one," Tuffnut maniacally grinned.

Hiccup flew closer, inspecting the cave. "Well, it's been here a while. A long while," he concluded, noting the smoothened edges and lack of rubble. "Let's go inside," Hiccup decided, steering Toothless into the cave.

As they went in, it seemed that the entire mountain was merely a shell around this one massive cave. "It's like a giant house," Astrid breathed. "Uh, guys! I think I found something!" Fishlegs called, and the others hastened to his location.

Above them, they found what almost looked like a dark blue, stone statue of a massive sleeping dragon, ten times larger than Hookfang. It had a wide, strong body, large, powerful wings to support it and a long tail that ended in a knobbly club. It's head resembled a Gronckle's, but smooth, with no visible ears and - Hiccup stilled as he spotted it's last feature. Six closed eyes. "Do you think this is a Quaking Goliath?" Fishlegs asked.

"Well, let's wake 'em up and find out!" Snotlout grinned. "Hookfang? Roar as loud as you can, please," Hiccup blanched. "I really don't think that-"

For once, his dragon complied, unleashing an ear-splitting roar that shook the mountain. The humans covered their ears, and even the dragons seemed upset.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Hiccup demanded. "Look at that thing! Even disregarding the colour, it's massive and has six eyes! Do you know what the only species of dragon around with six eyes is?"

Snotlout, scared by Hiccup's outburst, shook his head no. "A Red Death!" Hiccup shouted, panicked.

"Uh, guys?" Fishlegs asked. Hiccup ignored him.

"But, this should be an Quaking Goliath, not a Red-" Astrid started, but Hiccup cut her off. "We only called it a Red Death because we'd never seen or heard of anything like it and - and thought the name sounded good! It is completely possible that Red Deaths and Quaking Goliaths are one and the same!" he exclaimed. "And even if they aren't, it's also possible that this guy moved in and ate all of the Goliaths!" he added.

"Guys?" Fishlegs repeated.

"What is a Red Death?" Amelia asked, squinting. "It looks more blue-ish to me,"

"The most cruel, powerful, evil species of dragon there is. They have the ability to control other dragons with their minds," Hiccup explained. "Listen to me!" Fishlegs barked, and everyone turned to him. "What?"

"It's awake!" Fishlegs shouted, gesturing at the dragon, who had opened two of it's eyes and was slowly raising it's boulder-like head. Everyone paused, stunned.

The silence was broken when the gargantuan beast opened its mouth in a massive, roaring yawn. "Hmm, he is kind of cute for a dragon," Amelia commented. The Goliath fixed it's stare on her, and she snorted. "Don't you stare at me like that. You aren't so tough,"

"Amelia! No!" Hiccup shouted, but the pirate blew him off. "What will he do? Mind control me to death?" she snorted, advancing on the dragon. "Amelia. Drop your weapons. He'll be less willing to attack you if you're unarmed," Hiccup advised, hoping desperately that the basic principles of dragon training would still apply to this monster.

"And maybe I want that. He's not so tough," the pirate snorted, but heeded Hiccup's advice and undid her belt, letting her sheathed cutlass drop to the ground. The dragon grunted in surprise, opening two more of it's eyes. "That's it, wake up. If I can escape the British Navy in a rowboat with a sail made of palm trees and driftwood, I can deal with you," she smirked. The Vikings flinched away, all of them remembering the horror of the last member of the species they had encountered. The semi-awake dragon suddenly roared, globe of spittle flying from it's maw, one of which hit Amelia in the face. She wiped it off and twisted her mouth in a sneer. "No one spits at me, dragon,"

The last two eyes flickered open, and the Red (Blue?) Death roared a third time, but Hiccup noticed that something was different this time. Now, there was an orange light building in the back of the dragon's throat. "Amelia!" he gasped, leaping astride Toothless. The Night Fury leapt forwards, throwing the pirate out of the way, and the three skidded to the side, sliding into the space between the Death's flanks and the cavern wall. "Run!" Hiccup shouted as the dragon continued to warm up, seemingly now targeting his team. In a panic, the other Vikings mounted their dragons and scattered, taking to the air and making for the cave entrance, as the behemoth, finally warmed up, bathed the area where they had been in orange flames.

Hiccup pulled Amelia into the saddle. "We have to go. We can't fight this thing now," he declared. "But what about my ancestor's dragons?" the pirate demanded.

"I'm pretty sure that thing ate all of them," Hiccup snapped. "Toothless, go!" The Night Fury went, slicing into the air as the flames died down. The bleary, dilated pupils of the Blue Death's eyes followed them, and it clumsily tried to get up. Massive claws biting into the rock, the beast followed them, lumbering towards the entrance to the cave.

But Toothless cleared it first, immediately twisting to the right in an attempt to escape the Death's line of sight by using the walls of its home against it. Unfortunately, the Blue Death seemed to have a counter-measure. The side of the mountain spontaneously exploded, massive chunks of debris shooting in all directions as the dragon smashed its way through the side of the mountain.

Amelia was slack-jawed. "I never thought that I would say this, but I miss England!" she shrieked as Toothless frantically ducked and weaved, attempting to avoid every piece of debris. But without success, as a large boulder fell onto his wing. Losing control, the dragon frantically banked in an attempt to slide it off, and Hiccup clung to the reins and dug his feet into the saddle. Amelia, on the other hand, felt herself losing grip. She snatched for Hiccup's tunic, but the thin cloth slipped out of her hand, and she fell.

Hiccup watched her fall in horror. "Oh, not again," he moaned. Toothless immediately twisted in mid-air and dived to catch up, but a mighty roar alerted them to the fact that there was still a gargantuan dragon trying to eat them.

But the Blue Death had doomed itself in destroying the wall of its home. Without the load-bearing edges of the cave to hold up the top of the mountain, the entire structure was collapsing, snow and rocks falling in all directions and crashing down on the monster's back. Forced to its knees, before slumping on its stomach, the Death was rapidly buried by the collapsing carcass of its home. A massive boulder cracked onto its head, and its eyes began to close.

Amelia screamed as she fell, her three-pointed hat tumbling off her head, and a massive boulder interposed itself between her and Hiccup. She tried to turn in mid-air, but to no avail, and fell, and fell, and fell, all the while the boulder above her getting closer and closer. "I survived the navy, and the dragons, and my home, just to die to some rock? Well, that just figures, eh?" Amelia softly groaned to herself once she ran out of air to scream with.

And then rock walls shot up on either side of her. The boulder thunked into them, its momentum arrested, but Amelia continued to fall, until with a smack she hit water.

X

Finally escaping the debris field, Hiccup spotted the other Dragon Riders hovering over a forest and moved to reunite with them. From there, they looked at the mountain, and the Blue Death that was now mostly buried beneath rock.

"Where's the pirate?" Snotlout asked.

"Amelia fell off. She's down there somewhere. We need to find her," Hiccup declared, wheeling around and beckoning the others to follow Toothless. A worm of worry was gnawing at his gut. What if they couldn't find her?

An hour passed. Amelia wasn't on the surface of the debris, and they began to frantically search through the air pockets within the boulders.

"Do you think we need to worry about him waking up again?" Astrid asked Hiccup on Stormfly's back, gesturing to the Blue Death. Neither of them broached the possibility that it was dead. During their fight with the Red Death almost four years ago, it had casually blasted its way out of a mountain to fight, with no visible repercussions. Granted, the mountain hadn't fallen on it, and this one did look smaller and younger, but it was very unlikely to be dead.

"I hope not, but keep quiet just in case," Hiccup recommended.

X

Amelia choked, coughing and spitting up water. Gradually, she came to, her blurry eyes focusing and realising -

"Ah!" she screamed, scrabbling away from the dragon crouching over her and feeling for her sword. But it wasn't at her hip, her scabbard empty, and the pirate recalled that she had dropped it while trying to communicate with the Red Death. She cursed.

The dragon rumbled, and slowly moved closer. It was bright red, with a yellow underbelly, and pale gold fins running from the back of its head to the base of its long, sinuous neck. Large wings that matched the colour of its fins were folded along its back, and short, stubby legs carried it towards her. It cocked its head, softly crooning.

As concerning as the dragon in front of her was, Amelia felt that she had a bigger issue. Looking around, she and the dragon were perched on an ovongular shelf of rock, surrounded partially by sheer rock and partially by deep water. And, more to the point, a familiar weight on her head was missing. She felt her sodden dreadlocks, but to no avail.

"Where on earth is my hat?" she shrieked, glaring at the dragon. "You took it, didn't you? First it was my boat, then my sword, and now my hat? You ungodly beasts are just doing your utmost to make my life miserable, aren't you?"

The dragon growled curiously. "My, hat," Amelia repeated, pointing to the space above her head and talking very slowly.

The beast's eyes lit up in realisation, and it suddenly dashed to the edge of the shelf, before diving into the water and vanishing. "And good riddance!" Amelia shouted, before taking stock of her situation once again. It was only then that she realised she was trapped, and had just banished what might be her only ally. "Bah, I don't need any blooming great reptile. I'll swim out of here if I must," she huffed.

But the water was very cold . . . and she was already soaked . . . The Dragon Riders would find her sooner or later. No need to brave the water just yet.

Another hour passed. Upstairs, the Riders continued to search, and below, Amelia continued to shiver and wait. "Any moment now," she muttered to herself.

Exactly nine moments later, there was a sudden splash. Amelia immediately rounded on the source of the noise, fully expecting it to be one of the Dragon Riders. But no. Instead, the beast from before heaved itself back onto the rock shelf, with one notable addition; from its jaws dangled a soaked piece of brown leather.

The pirate blinked. "Is that . . ." Her eyes widened as the dragon dropped it on the ground nearby. "My hat!" she smiled, scooping it up and redonning it. It flopped around her ears, but that didn't bother her. She turned to the dragon and smiled. "Well, you're an improvement on that spinning thing, I'll give you that," Amelia huffily admitted. The dragon grinned a toothy grin.

She looked around. "What say we get out of here?" the blonde suggested. The dragon considered this, before nodding and bowing his head.

Remembering what Hiccup had said, Amelia rested her palm on the dragon's snout and looked down at it, feeling the wet, slick surface under her hand. "You're also an improvement on that massive monster up there," she added, releasing it. The dragon roared, before suddenly dashing around to stand behind her, and pressing his head between her legs. Amelia blanched, but the dragon pushed through, and she felt its fins slide between her legs, before the point where the dragon's neck met its body and she tripped backwards, her rear landing on its back. "You are taking things a little fast," she gulped, trying in vain to settle on the spot.

But the dragon's ears pricked up. It looked at her and bared its teeth in a grin, before spreading massive pearl gold wings, and leaping into the air, making for a gap in the ravine through which the sky's light shone.

And Amelia clung on for dear life, screaming bloody murder the whole time.

X

"We've looked everywhere, Hiccup. Face it, she's gone," Snotlout frowned.

"No. She can't be," Hiccup shook his head, refusing to believe it, but his mind spiralled around one fact; He had brought Amelia here. She had died because of him.

The other Dragon Riders stared at their leader, Astrid pressing a consoling hand on his shoulder during their moment of silence.

Until Tuffnut broke it. "Hey, do you hear that?" he asked.

"No, idiot. We're having a moment of silence," Fishlegs frowned.

"No, listen. It kind of sounds like, uh," Tuffnut proceeded to reel off half a dozen of Amelia's choicest curse words, finishing with; "I don't know what any of those words mean, but they sound funny,"

"Wait, I hear it too," Hiccup gasped, looking up. At the other end of the island, a faint dot was rising into the air and screaming to make Thor's ears bleed. "It's Amelia!"

"Hiccup, wait. What if it isn't?" Astrid cautioned him.

"Ahem. There is no one else in the entire Archipelago who can swear like that. It's Amelia," Snotlout agreed.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Hiccup shouted, remounting Toothless and coaxing his dragon into the air.

X

It was lucky that Amelia was flying towards them, because Hiccup quickly realised that whatever she was flying on, it was fast enough to give Toothless a run for his money and outpace all the other dragons. Indeed, their first glimpse of her came as she shot past them, screaming something about an iiiinfeeeernaaal beeeeeeeeeeeaaaaast.

Toothless turned on a dime and made to catch up, right as Amelia's new friend decided to stop, resulting in Hiccup overshooting her again.

But, finally, the six dragons and seven riders managed to congregate, hovering in the air. Fishlegs immediately gasped in excitement. "Whoa, Amelia, that's a Sliquifier!"

"I don't care, I just want it to let me off!" the pirate hotly retorted.

"I'm not sure, he seems to like you," Hiccup offered. Amelia huffed.

"Kind of small," Snotlout frowned. The Sliquifier was barely half the size of Hookfang, at a similar scale to Toothless but much thinner.

"No no no, a Sliquifier's size, or lack thereof, is its advantage. They're the fastest known Tidal-Class dragons in the world!" Fishlegs corrected him. "They're also a very rare and endangered species. No one's seen one since Bork's times, and I was starting to think they might be extinct!"

Hiccup cast a glance at Toothless. "Another rare dragon, huh? I'm sure you two'll get along great," he commented.

"No no no, Hiccup. Night Furies are a naturally rare breed. Sliquifiers are endangered because they've been hunted to the brink of extinction by their natural predators; Scauldrons," Fishlegs corrected him. "They have very soft bones. It makes them easy to digest,"

"Which is probably why he was so eager to bond with Amelia. He's lonely," Hicucp realised.

"This is all very good and well, but it does nothing to my resolution to get off this confounded creature at the first opportunity!" Amelia shouted.

The Riders paused. "Uh, okay then," Hiccup shrugged. "Astrid, take Snotlout and the twins and search the island for any other Deaths. If this place is a breeding ground for them or something, I want to know exactly how many there are and as much about them as possible,"

"What are you three gonna be doing?" Snotlout asked with a frown, looking at the others.

"Fishlegs is going to go back to Berk and tell Gobber to get out here with his finest saddle-making gear. We can rendezvous at the Edge. Amelia's gonna need a saddle. I," he paused, breathing in, "am going to teach her to ride a dragon,"

"You can count on me, Hiccup," Astrid nodded. "I'll get going now," Fishlegs grinned.. "I know," Hiccup smiled at them as Fishlegs mounted Meatlug and flew out of the cave. "It's them I'm worried about," he surreptitiously gestured at Snotlout and the twins.

"How do you make him go?" Amelia called, and Hiccup looked back at her. "Just tell him. Dragons are smart, he'll figure it out," The blond Viking winced. "Good luck,"

"Follow him," Amelia trepidantly commanded, and the Sliquifier eagerly obeyed, Amelia clinging on for dear life and loosing a vulgar stream of obscenities in regards to her dragon's ability to fly straight. Astrid watched them go, and reflected, 'Apparently, for once I don't have the hardest job,'

As the two flew, Hiccup shouted to Amelia, "You're gonna need to come up with a name for your dragon,"

"He's not my dragon!" the pirate hotly protested.

"I think he's already made up his mind about that," Hiccup shook his head. "You don't need to come up with a name immediately, but you should at least think about it," he advised.

"I'll keep that in mind," Amelia testily responded.

As they talked, Hiccup was taking careful mental notes about the Sliquifier. He could see why Amelia was having a hard time - the long, sinuous body of the dragon had a habit of rapidly darting around in short little bursts as it flew, and it obviously didn't agree with Amelia's constitution.

"Okay. Ninety percent of riding dragons is basically telling them what to do and hoping they'll listen, which they usually will," the slim Viking explained.

"And the other ten percent?"

"Making sure that you don't fall off," Hiccup dryly replied.

"A difficult feat," the pirate growled. "Give me a boat any day,"

Hiccup paused, thinking. "Alright. We're gonna head back to the Edge. If you can go that long without falling off, then you'll well on the way to becoming a Dragon Rider," he called.

Amelia was reluctant, but fully aware of the fact that she didn't have many options. "Dragon Pirate," she huffily corrected Hiccup, leaning forwards to decrease air resistance.

X

It was night by the time they returned to the Edge. They touched down in the centre, and Hiccup immediately called the Night Terrors to get them to light the torches. "Okay," he decided after that was done. "Amelia, time for step - where did she go?" he groaned, seeing that the pirate had vanished.

On the fringes of the Edge, Amelia and the Sliquifier looked up at the elevated platform that was her unfinished house. "It shall be another cold night, then," Amelia sighed, deftly climbing the rigging. She pulled her blanket, one of the only things she had rescued from her ship, from the vault she had built into the floor and futilely tried to settle down, seeing the night stars above.

Until they were blocked out, as the Sliquifier appeared above her. He curled his long, sinuous body around her, extending a wing to cover her, and nestled his head nearby her. Amelia smiled, despite herself. "Alright, alright. You are a good dragon," she admitted, feeling the sleek, warm skin against her clothes. "And warm too . . and you dart around a lot," she paused, recalling the name question. "Warm . . dart? . . . No, that's a horrible name," she snorted.

The dragon growled softly, a long, 'daaaaaahhhhhh' noise rumbling in his throat. His rider chuckled. "Just Dart? Alright then," she nodded. "Goodnight, Dart,"

It was around then that Hiccup, looking for Amelia, found the two of them curled up. He considered waking them up, but decided against it. Training lessons could wait until the morning. Gobbler would be at the Edge by then, and it would be better to train with a saddle anyway.

He yawned. Time to turn in. "Well, that went well," he commented to Toothless as they returned to their own house. "Goodnight, bud,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Okay, so instead of posting Chapter 5, I decided to change the outcomes of Chapter 4. Tame Red Death . . . don't know what I was thinking . . . meh.**

 **Anyway, not much to say, beyond how happy I was to find out that Sliquifier exist as a game-exclusive species of dragon. Here's hoping they'll appear in Race to the Edge in Season 5! ^^ Peace!**


End file.
